


Spider-Man: Far From Whole

by UnbeatableSquirrelGirl



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Post-Avengers 4, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, right in the feels, sad stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 22:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16314125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnbeatableSquirrelGirl/pseuds/UnbeatableSquirrelGirl
Summary: After the final battle against Thanos, everyone who was turned to dust has been revived. Not everyone who wasn’t killed by the snap is still alive though, and one specific death pays a heavy toll on the heart of young Peter Parker.





	Spider-Man: Far From Whole

Sometimes, Peter would wake up dripping in sweat and unknowingly screaming until his throat was hoarse and the taste of blood filled his mouth. On these nights, Peter’s main concern was for May. He didn’t like to make her worry, but after the war, after he lost HIM... Well, let’s just say nightmares were a constant companion. 

Tonight was one of those nights. Bolting upright in his sweat-soaked bed, Peter Parker instinctively covered his mouth with his hand, expecting to feel the vibrations from his screams, but instead felt only warm air caused by desperate attempts to verbalize his tormented cries. Coughs racked the teen’s body as his dry throat tried to coat itself in saliva. Reaching for his water bottle, Peter attempted to soothe his aching throat. His coughs pausing long enough for him to take a shaky sip, Peter squeezed his eyes shut as the liquid slid uncomfortably down his raw throat. 

Assuming his fit was over, Peter carefully lied back down onto his mattress. ‘Thank God,’ Peter murmured, sighing in relief that his coughing spell hadn’t awoken May. 

Closing his eyes, Peter attempted to fall back asleep, but soon realized that he was too afraid of the horrors from his dreams that he knew would be eagerly awaiting to devour him as soon as he slipped into an unconscious state. The bags under his eyes growing even larger, Peter reached for his phone off of his bedside dresser. Fingers groping blindly in the darkness, he felt along the smooth, wooden surface until he could feel the familiar shape of his phone along the tips of his fingers. His hand stretching out towards the device, Peter quietly attempted to slide the phone within a closer proximity to himself, but was unsuccessful. 

With an ear-piercing clatter, his phone dropped to the floor. “Shit!” Peter whispered, angrily getting out of bed to retrieve the device. 

The fall must have had pushed the power button, because Peter was greeted by his lock screen when he bent down to retrieve it. 

Peter froze. On the phone, the face of a carefree kid from Queens and his brilliant, billionaire father-figure stared at him, huge smiles plastered on their faces. 

Peter could remember every minute detail from the day that the selfie had been taken. It was a few months after the whole battle with the Vulture had happened, and his history teacher had decided it would be an exceptional idea to do a classic “Parent Career Day” in order to... well, if Peter was being honest, he didn’t exactly remember why because he had been too busy feeling like he was going to vomit. Not only did the idea make him feel like a kindergartner, but it also served as a painful reminder of his parents’ death.  
Peter had only been a child when it happened, and his young age at the time of the incident made the entire memory of it feel fuzzy. 

Sure, Peter knew that he could bring May, but he didn’t really want ANOTHER strike against him. He was already bullied enough as it was, and if Flash (who, of course, just happened to also be in this specific history class) found out, the heart-wrenching orphan jokes would NEVER cease. Feeling as helpless as he ever had, Peter remembered dragging his feet miserably along the sidewalk as he had walked home from school that day. 

When the day of “Parent Career Day” came, May had promised to be there at 10:00 AM sharp, five minutes before his history class started. Peter knew that May would keep her promise, and he had come to accept whatever jokes and jests might follow the event. However, as the minute hand on the clock ticked by, Peter began to get a little nervous about May’s appearance. It was for a grade, after all, and of course literally EVERYONE else’s parents had shown up. 

10:01, 10:02, 10:03, 10:04....

‘Crap crap crap crap, May where are you???’

Peter’s only solace was the fact that his teacher almost always went in alphabetical order, and there were plenty of people with last names that started before the letter ‘P’. 

10:05. 

“Ok class, it’s time to start our official ‘Parent Career Day’!” his teacher had exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, “Because today’s event is so special, I’m going to be drawing popsicle sticks with your names on it in order to decide who will go first.” Reaching his hand into the bag full of popsicle sticks, his teacher rattled them around before carefully selecting one from the bunch. 

‘Double crap. Well, at least there’s only a one-in-32 chance that the first name he draws will be mine, so, I mean, those odds aren’t terrible-‘

“Peter Parker!” his teacher’s booming voice had proclaimed merrily. Peter sat in his chair, frozen, as a cascade of staring eyes all locked onto him.

“Peter Parker? Peter- oh, there you are son. Why don’t you bring your parent up to the front of the class and introduce them.” His teacher grinned. 

Slowly rising from his seat, Peter walked at a snail’s-pace as he made his way to the front of the room alone. 

“Well, son, where’s your parent? Don’t tell me you forgot to bring the most important part of this presentation.” Eyebrows furrowing, his teacher cast a curious glance laced with a shred of disappointment onto the boy. 

“Well, uh, you see, uh, the thing is, uh-“ 

“Quit mumbling, Peter, and let’s hear what I’m sure will be an AMAZING,” with this, his teacher rolled his eyes, “excuse.”

“Well, um, uh, the reason that, uh, well I was gonna get May, my uh, aunt, to come out, but um-“ Peter stammered, before being interrupted by a familiar voice. 

“But he had to settle for me.”

Snapping his head around, Peter found himself face-to-face with none other than Mr. Tony Stark himself. 

“Mr. Stark! I, uh, wow, uh, what are you doing here?” Peter asked in astonishment. 

“Now, that’s no way to be, kid,” Tony Stark replied, beaming towards the open-mouthed students and parents, “Just go with it, Pete,” he whispered in the teen’s ear. “Did people actually believe that whole ‘Stark Internship’ thing? Huh, wow, the kids of today are WAY more naive than they used to be. Hi, Peter’s classmates. If you don’t know who I am, well, let’s be honest here, EVERYONE knows who I am. But what you probably don’t know is my, uh, RELATION to Peter, here. Obviously, the son of Tony Stark wouldn’t just be galavanting around wearing a shirt that had a huge ‘Stark Industries’ logo on it and telling every single person he met that his last name was Stark. Well, maybe the ordinary kid would, but not Peter. No,” with this, he paused and put an arm around Peter, “Peter’s a... REALLY special kid. And I’m a pretty lucky dad.”

The rest of the day went by in a dream-like haze, and Peter’s cheeks were sore by the end of it from the uncontrollable smiling that he had experienced the whole day. After school had been let out, Tony had walked Peter home, and Peter had been thanking him all along the way. 

“Thanks again, Mr.-“

“Pete, if you say thank you one more time, your grounded,” Tony had replied, chuckling, “I, well, I guess I just really wish my dad had been around more, and I guess this was my way of making up for his mistakes.” Tony looked at the ground. 

Peter had really wanted to hug him, but he restrained himself: the last thing he wanted to do was make things awkward between him and Mr. Stark. 

“Hey, before I get outta here, how about a new wallpaper for that phone of yours? That way you’ve got a nice picture to show to May and a home screen that people would literally pay millions for. And you better set it as your home screen. And lock screen. Ok?” 

“Yeah, wow, uh, thanks- I mean, um, I would REALLY appreciate that, Mr. Stark.” Peter had pulled out his phone and taken the selfie, and that’s when his urge to hug Mr. Stark had taken over. 

Much to his surprise, Tony Stark had embraced the teenager back, telling him, “You’ve got a good heart, kid.”

And now, staring at the picture on his dropped smart phone, Peter’s “good heart” was shattering into even more pieces. Tears streaming down his face, Peter sank to his knees, rocking back and forth in a state of complete and utter misery. He had known Tony Stark better than he had known his biological mother and father, and perhaps loved him even more than them, too. And now, all of them were gone, leaving Peter with nothing but memories and selfies. 

The phone screen faded to black.


End file.
